Report: Windows Mobile 6.X devices won’t upgrade to Windows Phone 7

Current devices running Windows Mobile 6.X won’t be upgradable to Windows Phone 7 when it’s released by the holidays, a Microsoft general manager told APC magazine Monday.

That means any Windows Mobile phone anyone has right now will be rendered ancient within a year. Essentially, Microsoft just told everyone they shouldn’t buy a Windows phone until the new ones come out.

So why won’t the current device lineup be compatible with Windows Phone OS 7.0?

The answer is simple: None of them have the required three buttons.

“Because we have very specific requirements for Windows Phone 7 Series the current phones we have right now will not be upgradable,” Natasha Kwan, general manager for the Mobile Communications Business in the Asia-Pacific region, told APC.

Not much of a surprise, really. As I’ve reported, in an effort to better control the end-user quality of the upcoming operating system, Microsoft is getting more stringent on its hardware requirements for Windows Phone 7 Series devices.

It’s a bit of a mixed bag – because while it will be good for Microsoft and phone manufactures to have a new OS on a new lineup of expensive devices, there are still eight months or so of potential Windows Mobile sales to get through.

Microsoft hasn’t officially announced anything about upgrading to Windows Phone 7 or the new OS’s backward compatibility with Windows Mobile 6.X applications. The company is expected to talk more in depth later this month at its MIX conference for Web developers in Las Vegas.

Here’s the official line from a Microsoft spokesperson Monday:

For Windows Phone 7 Series we are enforcing a strict set of hardware requirements to ensure a consistently great experience for end-users and developers. While we cannot confirm that WM6.X phones that satisfy those requirements will be upgradeable, every Windows Phone 7 Series device will be upgradeable with improvements and features we deliver with subsequent Windows Phone 7 Series releases.